Friday, April 16, 2021

A Week Of Everything

Our first paper mache project. We're making a pinata for the dog's first birthday! 


I'm particularly exhausted this week. It was my first week of teaching my very own curriculum and lesson plans for homeschool. The minis made a list of things they wanted to learn/study and it's up to me to teach it to them, in their preferred style of learning--hands on and playful. Daycare was full of activities as well, but I failed to get many pictures of the action. The kid's favorite thing this week was taking down our Easter find it stickers, coloring new ones, hiding them, and then finding them! 

Here's a bit of a peek from our week:


Art for the week focused on our paper mache pinata project! It will be done just in time for next week's first birthday party for our doggo, Zeus.

The oldest's last bit of curriculum studies is taking him to Asia and the Pacific Islands. He made lahmacun for dinner one night for us. 

Science is learning the systems of the body, with a focus on the skeletal system. They'll be learning all 206 bones of the body over the next few weeks, followed by animal classifications.


The Easter egg on the fan blade (next to the leprechaun foot prints that have yet to be washed off from a year ago!). Butterflies were colored and taped all around the daycare room for the kids to find. I try to switch the hiding spots daily, so it's a new find it game every morning.



After visiting Mason City last weekend (read about it here), the minis asked to watch The Music Man. They watched it, learned about Meredith Wilson, and listened to the soundtrack all week long!


Some of our coloring sheets. Daycare's letter of the weekw as Q, we learned about flowers and why their roots are important, we read books about spring and butterflies, and talked about baby animals born in the spring.

We've definitely gotten on a new schedule. Their nights are a little bit later and they sleep in a bit each morning (gone are the days of 6 a.m. wake up calls!). This girl can sleep--sometimes until 10 a.m. if I let her!

A daycare mom brought me a (much needed) coffee...and the dog thought it was for him. I assume he thought it was a pup cup!


Reading books while I got the next activity ready. Not only did one of the bigs read to the littles, I had a little "read" to his friends as well. He did storytime exactly how I do it every day, right down to asking the kids if they'd like one more book or if they're ready to go play? Cutest thing from my week!


Pinwheels. These were the perfect spring craft from Oriental Trading. Their items are really hit or miss, but I enjoyed these. Good thing too because I accidentally ordered triple the amount I needed, so they'll be a summer craft too!

If parents are looking for some silence this weekend, Dinosaur Train has a new movie on PBS Kids (we found it on our PBS Kids app on Roku). It's nearly an hour and a half long, so we watched it in three different parts, but the kiddos (ages 2 - 5) LOVED it.


These two spent the week learning all about Canada (or as we called them, "our neighbors to the north) in Social Studies. I pulled out a (kiddie) puzzle for them to put together before their final Canada geography test. I'm happy to say they aced it and can move onto learning all of the US Presidents.


We're attempting to grow a sweet potato. We'll see how it goes. Two hours passed and the kids checked on it, exclaiming "it hasn't growed yet!"

This may look like puppy cuddles, but it's really calming an extremely playful pup!

You know it's been a week when you end it with the paper towel holder broken off the wall...along with a tile or two.

What a way to end the week! Our Spain box from Universal Yums, studying for a Spanish exam (that includes writing correctly this time!), books, Harry Potter movies, and a refresh on some simple grammar (if I had to read 'their' as 'there' one more time, I might have cried).

The kiddos got to have a sneak peak of next week's sensory fun: bugs in beans! Tthey'll get to scoop them out, hide them in the beans, find them, identify them, sort them, and anything else they can think of. 

I had a good laugh this afternoon, when the three littles I had woke up and asked the youngest mini if they took good enough naps for their game. This threw me because I had heard nothing about this game before naps. Apparently, the youngest promised them a round of the find it game if they took good naps today.....and they all wound up sleeping for two hours!

You know it's been a great week by things falling off the wall and rice on the floor!